The farmers’ protest at the Chandigarh border has ended after the Punjab government and farmer leaders reached an agreement on a series of demands and the farmers agreed to withdraw the dharna following a written assurance from Punjab Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian on behalf of the state government.
The agreement includes commitments on issues related to Punjab’s water rights, the Punjab Reorganisation Act, the Dam Safety Act, farmers’ loans, sugarcane prices and pending payments from private sugar mills and one of the key assurances is that the Punjab government will convene a special session of the Punjab Assembly within one month. During this session, resolutions on several issues raised by the farmers will be considered and subsequently sent to the Central Government.
According to the written assurance, the Punjab Assembly will consider a resolution demanding the cancellation of what the government and farmers describe as unconstitutional water agreements made so far and the assurance states that agreements that are more than 25 years old will be sought to be cancelled and reconsidered.
Another resolution will seek the repeal of Sections 78, 79 and 80 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act. The state will also raise a demand before the Centre based on the riparian principle, under which a state’s rights over river waters are linked to its geographical relationship with the river and the Punjab Assembly will also pass a resolution seeking the repeal of the Dam Safety Act.
These resolutions will then be sent to the Central Government for consideration.
The agreement also covers the farmers’ demands concerning loans.
The Punjab government has said that a committee will be formed in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha after discussions with other political parties, and the committee will examine issues concerning the welfare of farmers and the recovery of loans taken through cooperative banking institutions.
This includes loans involving Punjab State Cooperative Banks, Punjab State Agricultural Cooperative Banks and cooperative societies, the committee will submit a report, following which necessary action will be taken according to its recommendations. The written assurance also states that the Punjab government will bring a one-time settlement scheme for farmers’ loan waiver.
Sugarcane pricing was another major issue included in the agreement.
The Punjab government has stated that the price of sugarcane being provided under the Aam Aadmi Party government is currently the highest in the country and that Punjab will continue to maintain the highest price and orders have been issued to submit the necessary file for fixing the sugarcane price on the same day, according to the written assurance. Further action on the matter will follow the file’s processing.
The government has also assured farmers that outstanding payments from private sugar mills will be cleared in a time-bound manner, in addition, the state government has committed to implementing a “One Window, One Payment” system for private sugar mills, similar to the system followed by cooperative sugar mills.
The government has also agreed to constitute a separate committee to look into the farmers’ demands that are not covered under the specific points mentioned in the written assurance.
Farmer leaders will nominate their representatives to this committee, while the Punjab government will include senior officials and the committee will examine the remaining demands and work towards resolving them as soon as possible.
The farmers had been protesting at the Chandigarh border over their demands concerning agriculture, loans, sugarcane payments and Punjab’s rights over its river waters and related legislation and the protest was called off after the written assurance was handed over to the farmer leaders by Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.
The immediate outcome of the agreement is that the Punjab government has committed to taking the issues raised by the farmers to the state Assembly, while some matters will also be taken up with the Central Government through resolutions and the special Assembly session is expected to be held within one month, as stated in the written assurance. The proposed resolutions will cover water agreements, provisions of the Punjab Reorganisation Act and the Dam Safety Act.
For farmers, the agreement also includes commitments on loan-related issues, sugarcane pricing, pending payments from private mills and a mechanism to examine their remaining demands and with the written assurance accepted by the farmer leaders, the dharna at the Chandigarh border has now ended.
